28 June,2024 06:15 PM IST | Mumbai | Ronak Mastakar
Ajit Pawar before presenting the Maharashtra budget on Friday. Pic/X
With an eye on the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Ajit Pawar on Friday (June 28) presented the Maharashtra Budget 2024.
On Thursday, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who also handles the finance portfolio, tabled the Economic Survey 2023-24 in the Maharashtra assembly monsoon session.
According to the state's latest Economic Survey, Maharashtra's economy, the top contributor to the national nominal GDP, is expected to expand by 7.6 per cent in 2023-24, similar to the country's projected growth of 7.6 per cent.
The agriculture and allied activities sector, which was hit by the "scarcity situation", in the state is expected to grow by 1.9 per cent and the Industry sector by 7.6 per cent, while the services sector is likely to register an expansion of 8.8 per cent in the last fiscal, it said.
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The state's economy is expected to grow by 7.6 per cent, compared to 6.8 per cent in the previous year, the state's latest Economic Survey said.
As per the key document, which was tabled in the Maharashtra assembly monsoon session, the state's gross state domestic product (GSDP) at current prices for 2023-24 has been projected at Rs 40,44,251 crore and real at Rs 24,10,898 crore.
The total anticipated expenditure for annual schemes in the last financial year is Rs 2,31,651 crore of which Rs 20,188 crore is towards district annual schemes, it said.
The revenue receipts are expected to be Rs 4,86,116 crore for 2023-24 as against Rs 4,05,678 crore in the previous fiscal. As per the Survey, Maharashtra's revenue expenditure in the given period is Rs 5,05,647 crore compared to Rs 4,07,614 crore in the year before.
The annual credit plan size for the state's priority sector for 2023-24 is Rs 6.51 lakh crore in which the share of the agriculture and allied activities sector is 25.9 per cent and that of micro, small, medium enterprises and khadi and village industries sector is 55.6 per cent, it said.
The state received 86.4 per cent of the normal rainfall during the monsoon in 2023. Across Maharashtra, 19 talukas received excess rainfall, 190 received normal rainfall and 146 received deficient rainfall, the Economic Survey said
The state ranks second in India in organic farm production (27 per cent) after Madhya Pradesh. Maharashtra's irrigation potential created up to June 2022 by major, medium and minor projects was 55.60 lakh ha. During 2022-23, the actual irrigated area stood at 42.33 lakh ha, the Economic Survey said.
According to the Economic Survey report, Maharashtra has remained topped in terms of FDI inflows in the country. During 2022-23, exports from the state contributed to 16 per cent of the total exports from the country, it said.
Ajit Pawar has already presented the Rs 6,00,522 crore interim budget for 2024-25 in February.
Of the total budget, with revenue receipts to the tune of Rs 4,98,758 crore, the revenue expenditure was projected at Rs 5,08,492 crore, while the revenue deficit was Rs 16,112 crore and the fiscal deficit was Rs 99,288 crore. The government's revenue deficit is expected to surge from the present level of 0.5 per cent of the gross state domestic product (GSDP) while fiscal deficit may touch 3 per cent or it may be above that limit of the GSDP from the present level of 2.8 per cent.
Key highlights of the budget
- Maharashtra government has decided to establish Chief Minister Varkari Sampradaya Corporation
- Women aged 21 to 60 will be given Rs. 1500 per month
- Government brought various schemes for women
- Chief Minister Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana announced
- 10 thousand pink rickshaws will be given to women in the state
- Every family will be given three gas cylinders free per year
- 92 lakh farmers benefited from Namo Shetkari Yojana
- 163 irrigation projects will be completed in the next two years
- Rs 15000 crore long term loan has been approved by NABARD to complete the irrigation project
- Rs 3200 crore programme will be implemented to deliver water to drought areas
